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Monday, June 28, 2010

Odds and Ends

I was looking over my pictures and I realized that I have several that I wanted to post, but had not made it to the blog yet. So this is going to be a bit of everything and anything from the Apedaile house.


Lindsay and Courtney having fun staying cool on the slip and slide


Sarah and JT looking adorable
Courtney dressing up for World Series of Awesomeness at church- sports fan day- she took top prize for her grade and won a gift card to Target.
Lindsay dressing up for tacky/mismatch day at WSA. She didn't win- not sure why not, she looked pretty tacky to me :)
JT and Micah playing. JT master walker despite his cast.
JT still happy even with his cast on. Courtney and Chaselyn arm wrestling in the background.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Signing

JT isn't the most verbal baby as of right now. Not that he doesn't talk, just most of what he says aren't "words" that we easily understand. JT does babble a lot so I'm sure he is talking, just not in a way we can understand it as of right now!

We have continued to use sign language to communicate and teach JT to hopefully use a few signs that would be helpful to him. Several months ago JT signed Mommy much to my delight. He now says Mommy all the time, which I love. Yesterday, JT surprised all of us by signing both Please and All Done!

We were preparing dinner and JT is now well aware of when food is out and thinks he must be offered a bite. So while he was reaching up to the counter for food, we asked JT to say please. Much to our surprise, he responded by signing please! Awesome! We proceeded to repeat this new trick with several bites of food.By time we realized we needed to capture this on video, JT was "pleased out" and didn't perform for the camera.

However this morning when feeding JT his oatmeal, JT signed all done to me when he was finished eating. Yay! I thought to video with my phone since it was handy and I got it! JT signed all done and thank you for me. Not sure if blogger is cooperating in uploading my video, but here it is. If the video isn't working, I'll try again later.



Wednesday, June 23, 2010

First Haircut

The time has come- JT's first haircut. The girls have been asking us for several weeks, "When is JT getting a haircut? It's too long!!!" I guess John and I were not quite ready. That changed a few days ago and John said when he returned from church camp for middle school that we would go to get JT's first haircut.
                                                                            BEFORE



We headed to Sports Clips- 1. It's geared to boys/men and 2. We had a free haircut coupon :) I for one was not going to attempt to cut JT's hair because I think he would end up like John because I wouldn't know what I was doing and end up giving him a buzz cut.

When we got there, we met Christina, JT's stylist. I felt more at ease because she is a Mommy as well and I figured she would have a better idea of how to work with JT. JT sat on John's lap and was given a stuffed dinosaur to play with. JT did very well with sitting still and he didn't cry, so double bonus! About 1/2 way through JT was boring a bit with the dinosaur and Christina asked if he could have a lollipop to help him get through the rest of the cut. We figured, sure why not, because it would end up a better cut if JT isn't moving around. Let me tell you, JT LOVED his lollipop! Of course, it's sweet yumminess. He sat so still sucking on his treat, it was entertaining to watch. He also didn't notice when I took it away before we left because after all, I didn't want that sticky yumminess all over his car seat-LOL!








Here is JT's new 'do. I love it because his eye won't be covered with his hair anymore and I think he looks so handsome. Sarah saw his new look but Courtney and Lindsay have not since they are still at camp and due back Wednesday afternoon. I think they will approve.



Monday, June 21, 2010

12 Month Visit

JT had his 12 month well visit last week. I waited until after he was cast free so  it could be a proper exam and the Dr could look at how JT walks, hip movement,etc.

This was by far JT's most active Dr appt. Usually while we wait JT was content to crawl on the exam table and go to town on the wonderful exam paper that I think all babies love. That was before JT was walking though. JT managed to get into I think everything he could in the 10-15 minutes we waited in the room for the Dr. He was quite frustrated that they baby proofed the cabinets and drawers and would scream at the locked doors as he tired to pull them open. Here is what he did find to occupy his time during his wait:


He started off pretty easy- finishing up his sippy cup of milk. I think it just energized him.

Then after he was weighed the fun began! First he looked at the books.
Then he discovered Dr. Holzen's fun moving seat. He pushed it around the room.
Then it was back to the exam table to pull down nearly all of the magazines and books. He also was trying to see how high he could grab things. Not quite yet JT!
Even better- the book shelf is made for JT to crawl up on and hang out! He loved his little hide-out.


The visit showed JT to be in perfect health right now, Praise God! His ear tubes look great and his ears look perfect. His leg continues to heal well and he is walking normal now with no limping or abnormalities. He did have 2 shots, which JT did not appreciate. He recovered well after about 5 minutes of crying to express the displeasure of me holding him down to be poked twice with a needle.

His weight was 24 pounds and he is now 31 inches tall. I looked back to his 9 months stats and he really has not gained much weight at all- just 1 pound! He did grow 2 inches since then, which I think is quite a bit for being so young. Babies just grow so quick! Maybe learning to walk and being so active is keeping JT from gaining so quickly these days. I know the growth will slow down a lot during this next year. He was in the 70th% for weight and 90th% for height. Long and lean as Dr. Holzen said.

However my boy has a big noggin- he is in the 95th-100th% for head circumference! I knew he kind of has a larger head, but I think its to hold that beautiful potential genius brain of his :) The Dr wasn't concerned about this as he doesn't have any signs that would point to any problems, but I'm sure we will keep an eye out just to be sure.


His next visit will be when he is 15 months. Praying that this next stretch will be quieter. We managed to have ear tubes placed between 6-9 month appointments and have his first cast between 9-12 month appointments. JT can be a high achiever, but not in this department.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day




Today we normally would be celebrating Father's Day with John. This year, we did it a few days early. Courtney, Lindsay, and John are all at Middle School Camp that our church, Long Hollow, hosts each summer. So we celebrated our special Dad on Thursday evening before they all took off for the 5 night event.

Each girl selected a Clint Eastwood movie for John, as that was our idea to get several Eastwood movies since John doesn't have any and he is one of his favorite actors/directors. JT gave John something for the road at camp- sunflower seeds! Courtney and Lindsay also bought with their own money little cat and dog figurines and painted them just for John. The girls also went to the store, thanks to big sis Sarah, and chose a cake to make. They all helped to bake and decorate the cake for our celebration.


I feel so blessed to have such a strong godly man be the father to our beautiful children and leader of our family.Words can't express the love, admiration, and thanks I have for John and what he does for our family on a daily basis. We love you Daddy!!!





Saturday, June 19, 2010

Be the match

I was being tracked down earlier this week. John called me saying that he had a message on his phone of someone looking for me because I could possible be a match. A match for what you may ask? Bone marrow donor! Crazy huh?

I was placed on the national bone marrow registry in 2004 when I was added during a drive to find a marrow donor for a little boy Courtney's age, Parker, who had leukemia. I was able to be added to the registry then for free, which was awesome. Side note to add that eventually a match was found for Parker and he has been cancer free for over 5 years now, Praise God!

Since I did not update my information with the registry when we moved here to Tennessee, they were somehow able to locate and track down me through John who is listed as one of two contacts for me.

I was told that I was identified as a potential match for a 50 year old man with lymphocytic leukemia. That is the only information I am allowed to know about the patient. I was contacted to see if I still have interest in being a donor and give consent to have further testing done on my blood sample that has been stored to see if I would be the ideal match for this man.

For me this decision is easy, Yes! I know there are some potential risks to me if I do donate, but they are relatively minor- they actually have a way to donate similar to platelet donation, which means no operation like traditional donations required. The way I look at it is if myself or someone I love needed a bone marrow transplant to save their life, I would certainly be praying for someone willing to donate to save their life. So for some potential discomfort physically, I think that is a good trade to possibly save someones life.

I won't know if I am the match until the testing is done, which takes 1-6 weeks. I will be notified either way yes or no. From what I have read, being at this stage I have about a 1:12 chance of being "the one". No matter what happens I am praying that this 50 year old man will be able to be treated and saved from this transplant whether it is me or somebody else.

Here is the link to the national bone marrow site, I encourage you to look at it and maybe someday register to be a donor.
http://www.marrow.org/

Monday, June 14, 2010

Frankenstein

The cast has been removed and in exchange, our baby now walks like Frankenstein! We have been assured that this is temporary. As long that is the case, it is pretty comical to watch!

We went to visit Dr. Greene at Vanderbilt Children's Orthopedics this morning. They brought us back to the cast room where JT was in love with the "fancy" bed paper with hand and footprints in primary colors. Then then JT needed to wear hearing protectors for the removal since the saw is pretty noisy and I'm sure it helps the children not be as frightened. I thought JT wouldn't leave them on for more than a few seconds, I was wrong! JT thought the whole removal process was fun and chuckled through out. The nurse replied that he hoped all of his patients would be as good as JT was today :) We then had JT's leg x-rayed again. Dr. Green came in and had a great bedside manner with JT. He said in a nutshell that everything looked great and JT was released from care! Yay! He did mention that JT could limp for as long as 3 weeks as he continues to heal but as long as it doesn't worsen, everything is A OK. Also another big praise is that all blood work looked great, so it was just a simple fall that caused all of this stuff.

Here's to hoping this is my last post about broken bones for a very long time!!




JT's final morning walking on his cast- yep the little stinker mastered walking on his cast after about 4 days!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Toddler's Fracture

JT didn't take long to jump full force into being a toddler. Just 2 days after turning 1, JT had his first major injury. Toddler's Fracture is the official diagnosis- which is specific to toddlers/preschoolers and it's a lower leg fracture (shin bone) that occurs from a slip or fall when the child loses their footing. They are quite common from what I have read. They rarely show up on x-rays because their bones are not calcified enough, but after the bone heals, it then shows the new bone growth. Okay, enough of the medical stuff.

JT had a what seemed like a minor fall at home but when he stood up he was limping and not wanting to bear weight on his leg. we observed him, gave Tylenol, and held JT the little bit that was left in the night (this happened close to bedtime Thursday). Praying it was just some type of muscle pull, we placed JT to bed and would determine what to do the next morning depending on how he behaved.

The next day he seemed a bit worse, favoring to crawl and limping a great deal. So I made an appointment to with our pediatrician that morning. After seeing Dr. Holzen, she thought it would be best to bring JT down to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital ED for evaluation since it was Friday and she didn't want any delay in getting care. By then it was almost noon and I stopped by at home to gab a few things for JT and pick up John who took off work when he heard where we were headed.

We arrived at Vandy around 12:30 and got checked in and taken back to a room rather quickly. Hoping this was a good sign. The resident Dr evaluated JT and she thought it sounded more than likely to be the Toddler's Fracture, but we needed to run some blood work to rule out any type of inflammatory markers that would cause the limping. We were told JT couldn't have anything to eat/drink until the labs came back in case they needed to do anything further. The lab should be back in an hour and that was at about 3ish. Didn't mention that JT had last eaten at 9am and I wasn't thinking about no eating in the ED or I would have given him something prior to arriving.

Well, 1 hour turned to 2 and before long I went out to the nurses to ask when to expect results because our little man was having major meltdowns from being very hungry and tired. They attempted to locate the labs but long story short, they never got anything beyond CBC before we left. So the Dr pushed ahead to get JT in his cast. Backup to say that his x-ray did not show any fracture, but since he was limping,etc. it was the standard to cast since they don't often show up.So the next step was to give JT some sedative so he wouldn't wiggle during the casting. He was given Verset and boy did that work! He was fully awake but so mellow!!! It was kind of humorous seeing him like that- I guess John and I were ready for some laughs after the stressful day. After a quick x-ray to see if the cast was set properly, discharge papers, signed, we headed out at 8pm!!!

JT goes on Monday the 14th to the orthopedic group to evaluate if he can have his cast removed. We are very prayerful this is the case. We also expect to get the full blood test results to rule out anything illness wise that would cause JT's limping-also praying for normal results.

Here are some photo highlights of our fun filled 8 hours in the Vandy Children's ED:

JT enjoying his early hours in his room- playing with shiny things, reading books, and stickers after his 1st round of x-rays.


The first signs of JT "losing it". He didn't like having his IV line and arm splint on.

This pulse monitor was so fascinating to JT after he was sedated :) Some shots while the Ortho Dr. applied JT's cast.

The final result- 1 beautiful white cast (only white or pink were available in the ED)
JT's first bottle since 9am, it was now about 7:30pm. What a trooper he was! A few days later, with lots of signatures and sleeping in a new position due to the cast. He's always a belly/side sleeper.